From the Desk of Ross Bjork

Howdy!

When August rolls around, I typically like to say "Happy New Year!" The new academic and athletic year inspires all of us with a renewed sense of energy and buzz around our campus community. We are thrilled to have our student-athletes back practicing and training for competition and on campus preparing for class.

As Texas A&M Athletics moves into the 2021-22 athletic year, I am excited to welcome everyone back to Kyle Field, Ellis Field, Reed Arena and the Watts Cross Country course this fall. We are operating at full capacity for all of our venues, and will provide each and every one of you with the full fan experience. This month, both our Aggie Soccer (Aug. 15) and Volleyball (Aug. 20) teams kick off their home competitions with exhibition matches against Baylor. In September, Cross Country hosts the Aggie Opener (Sept. 1) and then football faces Kent State (Sept. 4) in Kyle Field with the return of the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band to the halftime show! Purchase your tickets to this amazing fall line up at 12thman.com/tickets. We need the 12th Man back in full force!

It is hard to believe that it has been since early Spring of 2020 that we have had full capacities in our athletic facilities. Thank you for your continued support and patience over the past year as we have overcome countless obstacles to get to where we are today. Unfortunately some of our challenges still exist and we are asking for patience as we work through a few more hurdles related to game day staffing resources. The ripple effects of the pandemic could have a serious impact on our workforce numbers, and as a result there may be longer lines and wait times. Please know that we are working with all of our gameday partners to overcome this as quickly as possible.

Last month, the Presidents and Chancellors of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) voted unanimously to expand the conference footprint and extend membership invitations to the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas. Both schools are set to join the SEC beginning July 1, 2025 with all sports starting competition for the 2025-26 academic year. The SEC continues to prove itself as the best conference in college athletics, this is why we joined 10 years ago and there is a reason others want to follow our lead. For more information, read the SEC's full press release.

I am thrilled for the fall to get underway and for our teams to begin competition with the 12th Man back in the stands. I look forward to seeing you at our games, Yell Practice, tailgating, and many other events this fall.

There are exciting things to come in the months ahead here in Aggieland.

Gig 'Em!
Ross

Aggies in the Olympics

Texas A&M was well represented at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, taking home a total of seven medals, including four golds. The seven medals are the most all-time by A&M athletes in a single Olympiad.

Track & Field captured five of the seven medals earned by Aggies. Phenom Athing Mu shined in her Olympic debut, winning gold in the 800m and 4x400m relay. In the 800m, Mu set an American record time of 1:55.21, becoming the first female in program history to obtain an individual medal and the first Aggie, male or female, to win gold in an individual track event (Aggies have won multiple gold medals in field events). The Trenton, New Jersey, native anchored for Team USA in the 4x400m, finishing with a time of 3:16.85 and recording a 48.32 split, which both rank top-10 in the world all-time.

In his Olympic debut, Bryce Deadmon won gold in the men's 4x400m relay and bronze in the mixed 4x400m relay. In the 4x400m relay, Team USA clocked the fourth-fastest time ever of 2:55.70, and Deadmon ran an impressive 44.01 third leg split to give Team USA its only gold medal in a men's track discipline.

Former student Fred Kerley ran a personal best time of 9.84 to earn silver in the men's 100m. The Taylor, Texas, native became the first Aggie in program history to medal in the short sprints.

NBA Champion Khris Middleton is the second Aggie men's basketball alum to win a gold medal, joining DeAndre Jordan, who won gold in 2016. Team USA defeated France, 87-82, in the final. Middleton became one of six players since NBA players were allowed to play in the summer games in 1992 to win an NBA Championship and an Olympic gold medal in the same year. The North Charleston, South Carolina, native finished the Olympics with a combined stat line of 35 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists and five steals.

Representing Canada, two-time Olympian Sydney Pickrem won bronze with the Canadian 4x100 medley relay team, setting a new national record time of 3:52.60. Pickrem is the third women's swimmer, along with Breeja Larson and Christine Marshall, in program history to medal at the Olympic Games.

Fall Sports Preview

Football looks to carry the momentum from an impressive 2020 season that saw the team close out an all-SEC regular season on a seven-game win streak, topping it off with an Orange Bowl victory over North Carolina. A&M will open its 2021 slate at Kyle Field, hosting Kent State on Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. Consensus All-American and 2020 Outland Trophy semifinalist Kenyon Green, along with his classmates and returning starters Ainias Smith, Isaiah Spiller and Jalen Wydermyer, will be looked to for veteran leadership and have the nation on notice as each garnered national preseason honors. DeMarvin Leal has also garnered a number of preseason accolades and will help lead a veteran defensive unit that returns nine starters and a number of key contributors from a season ago.

Cross Country opens its season Sept. 1 hosting the Aggie Opener. The program hosts three regular season meets, travels to Columbia, Missouri for a regular season meet and the SEC Championships, while eyeing a NCAA South Central Regional appearance in Waco followed by the NCAA Championships in Tallahassee, Florida. On the women's side, returning are seniors Julia Black and Abbey Santoro. Natives of Keller, Texas, the Aggie duo bring experience and leadership as both have appeared at numerous NCAA West Regional and SEC Championship meets. On the men's side, Eric Casarez and Gavin Hoffpauir lead the group of Aggies. Despite battling an injury in 2020, Casarez brings NCAA experience with one appearance at the 2019 NCAA Championships and a ninth place finish at the 2019 NCAA South Central Regional. Hoffpauir finished as the front runner for the Aggies at the 2020 SEC Championships, and he has appeared in two NCAA South Central meets.

Soccer is eager to commence a 2021 campaign that holds College Cup aspirations. Texas A&M was selected No. 9 in the United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's Preseason Rankings. The Maroon & White polled first among SEC schools and is one of five league teams in the preseason top 25. The Aggies face three of the teams featured in the preseason top 10 to start the season, including slate-opening road trips to No. 1 Florida State and No. 8 TCU and an Ellis Field lid-lifter against No. 7 Clemson. The Maroon & White face seven foes in the preseason top 25. Texas A&M boasts a returning All-American in Karlina Sample and two All-Southeast Region performers in Sample and Barbara Olivieri. Other key players among the 19 returnees are defenders Katie Smith (1,560 minutes) and Macie Kolb (1,549) who paced the team in minutes played in 2020-21. The Aggies enjoyed a successful 2020-21 campaign, logging a 7-1-0 mark in league play to earn a share of their third SEC regular-season Championship in the fall. The Maroon & White battled in the spring to earn their 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament bid and advanced to the Elite Eight for the seventh time in program history. The Maroon & White unofficially started their season Wednesday, August 11 with a road exhibition match at North Texas. They also play a home exhibition match against the Baylor Bears on Sunday, August 15 at Ellis Field.

Volleyball returns 13 letterwinners from last year's squad that finished 9-9 overall. Six of 13 returners have starting experience, including setter Camille Conner and middle blocker Mallory Talbert who both started all 18 matches in 2020-21. Conner was a 2020 Preseason All-SEC selection and a 2020-21 Senior CLASS Award Second Team All-American. The Maroon & White welcome six newcomers to the squad, including four freshmen and two transfers. The team started practice this week in preparation for its season opener in Hawaii Aug. 27.

Name, Image, Likeness

Name, Image and Likeness has been in effect since July 1, and we have created an innovative and comprehensive NIL program, AMPLIFY, designed to equip our student-athletes with the best tools and training to maximize their brand and platform.

AMPLIFY serves Texas A&M student-athletes with best-in-class education and resources related to personal branding, networking, finance, media training and more.

FAQs for boosters and fans can be found online here.

Selfless Service

Forty-five freshman student-athletes representing six sports (baseball, men's and women's basketball, football, soccer and volleyball) took part in a community service project on July 31 in conjunction with the Center for Student-Athlete Services (CSAS) and Habitat for Humanity.

The freshmen took part in building a house for Habitat for Humanity. The project was part of one of CSAS's programs that aim to help new student-athletes get to know the Bryan-College Station community before starting their first year at Texas A&M.

Sports Science

Texas A&M Athletics has created a Sports Science PhD Fellowship program in a collaboration with Texas A&M Department of Health and Kinesiology, the Huffines Institute for Sports Medicine and Human Performance, and other on-campus partners.

In 2014, A&M became one of the first athletics departments nationwide to invest in Sports Science--which provides support to all 20 intercollegiate teams--and the Fellowship Program marks another step forward for the department. The program, which incorporates fully-funded PhD positions embedded within Athletics, will be unique at the top level of NCAA athletics.

The Fellowship Program will offer up to four years of funding to each Fellow as they provide support to Texas A&M's 500-plus student-athletes and complete their PhD studies. A new Fellow will join the program each year for four years with each focusing on a specific area of expertise within sports science. The focus for the first year will be biomechanics with data analytics and physiology to follow in future years. Recruitment for the position will begin at the start of the spring semester ahead of a July start date. Each Fellow will receive guidance from Athletics staff in addition to experts from the Huffines Institute, Health and Kinesiology, and other on-campus partners. These collaborations will afford each young professional an opportunity to build a strong base of general sports science knowledge while also developing expertise in a specific research area.

Texas A&M Athletics' Performance & Wellness is comprised of five units: Counseling and Sport Psychology, Performance Nutrition, Sports Medicine, Sports Performance, and Sports Science. This Fellowship program, while housed in Sports Science, is designed to contribute to all of these units while also enhancing collaboration with our on-campus partners. The Fellows will help diversify the expertise within Performance & Wellness and develop a deeper understanding of specific practices, seek answers to questions or problems that may arise, and help contribute to the best care possible to our student-athletes.

The tireless efforts of Howard Gray, Associate Athletics Director for Performance and Justin Moore, Deputy Athletics Director, along with Dr. Tim Lightfoot, Director of the Huffines Institute, and Dr. Melinda Sheffield Moore from Health and Kinesiology contributed to the to the creation of the Fellowship Program.

Sustainability

This week, Texas A&M Transportation Services officially launched the state's first university-operated electric buses. Transportation Services partnered with Brazos Transit District to share a grant which funded three electric buses and 24 diesel buses to replace older models. These buses are environmentally-friendly due to zero tailpipe emissions and less fossil fuels used. Electric buses are less expensive to run, offer new technologies and provide a smoother, quieter ride around campus. Be on the lookout for these around campus! Read more about this launch here.